FE11 Overview

FIRE EMBLEM 11 SPEEDRUN COMMENTARY

This is a somewhat detailed overview that you can read for more information about the run that isn't obvious in the video.


ANY% NORMAL CATEGORY

This category requires beating the game starting from prologue-1 to the final chapter, on normal difficulty. Sidequests are not required. Timing starts upon selecting "New Game" (the in-game timer runs even when selecting the difficulty) and ends upon final save.


TRICKS / GLITCHES

Warp Glitch - If you warp a unit and skip the warp animation quickly enough with the B button, there will remain an invisible clone of that unit from the original tile. You can re-warp this clone, trade with clone, and so on. This is done in chapter 20, where Lena warps Marth to the village so he gets the hammerne staff, then Boah re-warps his clone near the throne (which warps the real Marth). This does NOT work in the PAL version of the game.


RNG MANIPULATION

The general seed you start on upon starting the game depends on the timer of the console. You will always get the same results with combat and level-ups through the prologue chapters, as long as you skip dialogue-based cutscenes the same way each time (dialogue boxes / cutscenes advance the RNG). Cursor movement does NOT use the same RNG as level-ups and combat, so you can't manually burn RNs with the cursor like in the GBA Fire Emblems. I use a Wii-U VC Restore State to start the game on the same seed every time; this particular seed gives Marth 3 defense (20% growth) out of 5 level-ups, which gives him a massive buffer in surviving the rest of the run.

RNG Manipulation is thrown out the window upon entering the armory, since it's used on every frame. However, there are a lot of factors that affect the RNG from chapter 1-3 anyways so the exact same thing won't happen every time anyways. This means there isn't any real manipulation from chapter 4 and onward.


GENERAL OPTIMIZATION

Due to being able to skip enemy phases, saving turns isn't that important in a speedrun (though you don't want to waste turns needlessly). It's worth wasting a turn to skip a cutscene, level-up, dialogue box, and so on by leaving those for enemy phase. Thus, the best way to clear chapters is generally either just moving Marth forward and ending turn repeatedly, or warp him to the throne, kill the boss in enemy phase, then seize.

Whether to kill the boss in player phase or enemy phase depends on the situation. I generally want to avoid killing units in player phase because the on-map attack animations, potential dialogue, and worst of all, Marth's level-ups, all waste time that could be done in the skipped enemy phase instead. These are the situations where I would kill a boss in player phase:

1. The boss doesn't attack Marth at all. Obviously Marth has to attack the boss on player phase here.
2. Marth doesn't one-round the boss. I want to then weaken the boss so the boss dies on enemy phase.
3. Marth faces a significant chance of dying if the boss hits Marth. This is for situations where Marth can kill the boss in one hit, so he doesn't face a counterattack; if I leave the boss kill to enemy phase and the boss hits Marth, Marth can easily die.

In most other situations, I leave the boss kill to enemy phase.


IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

Marth - For once, the lord is the main combat of a fire emblem speedrun! Almost every chapter is a seize chapter, and Marth is the only character who can seize. Thanks to warping and no rescuing, he's the main combat character. With a forged rapier, he can basically one-hit KO most bosses. His offensive growths are very good especially in this game where most character growths are near non-existent. However, his defense is the most important stat to raise, purely to help him survive. Unfortunately his defense growth is a mere 20%, so there's a lot of luck involved with him levelling up.

Jagen - The original Jagen, who has decent base stats, starts as a promoted paladin, and poor growths. Thanks to his good earlygame bulk, his very high movement, and silver lance, he's used to contribute killing a few units in the way, being a useful lure, and killing thieves that carry around extra Warp staffs.

Lena - Joins in chapter 3 as the first staff user, and comes with a Warp Staff. She's my only default staff-user until Boah joins, so she's the MVP of early game with warping Marth over and over again. Even after Boah joins, she's useful as a secondary warper and/or the hammerne user.

Boah - A bishop that joins in chapter 12. He replaces Lena as the primary warper; as a promoted unit, he gets less experience from each warp, and thus fewer level-ups.


CHARACTER DEATHS

There are some reasons I kill off characters intentionally:

1. Faster unit ordering. One key spot is killing Frey in Chapter 1.
2. As a lure. This is apparent in lategame when I kill off Roshea, Wolf, and Lena.
3. Because I don't care. Some characters just die off screen and I just never notice, but it's never worth going back to check. Rest in piece, Caeda.